Tag Archives: asylum seekers

This Sunday’s Palm Sunday Walk for Refugees from Perth’s St George’s Cathedral will repeat a tradition that has grown over recent years. Palm Sunday events commemorate the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem riding the colt of a donkey – the ultimate symbol of peace. It was a high festival time in Jerusalem with pilgrims from all over the Mediterranean. Jesus’ peaceful entry was in stark contrast to the arrival on the other side of the city of Governor Pilate and his military cohort to reinforce crowd control. Mark 11:1-11 is one telling of the story

Palm Sunday commemorations highlight ways of peace and reconciliation in contrast to dominating powers of coercion and control. It will be a crazy mix, just as the Jerusalem crowds were. There will be contemplative Christians, singing Christians, shouting socialists, bemused bystanders, and those simply seeking to stand alongside destitute men, women and children who have been demonised and incarcerated indefinitely by our authorities for daring to claim asylum in unapproved circumstances.

Together we will be claiming the radical hope that love and justice will prevail. There have been enough Good Fridays. Let Easter Sunday prevail!

Just when you think the Australian Government can do no worse in its cruel and dispiriting treatment of maritime asylum seekers, it pulls another rabbit out of the hat.

This so-called low key cartoon strip campaign does little more than throw down a challenge to those desperate to flee to safety. Rather than threaten with blockades that grumble “no way” all sides of our parliament should be seeking ways to enable a safe way for people to seek asylum in this whole region.

This will demand imagination, leadership – and, most importantly, will – for many years of political and media propaganda have manipulated the public’s mindset to fearful and selfish preoccupation.

We have the ludicrous situation where a Labor government is pressing for the most draconian offshore detention procedures with a conservative opposition pleading humanitarian concerns for blocking the legislation – and each blaming the other for the arrival of more boats!

The time for schoolyard politics is over. Now is the hour that calls for some good moral leadership. Bite the bullet and return to the sane practice of onshore processing for all asylum seekers, no matter how they arrive here.

The melancholy cloud that began my week re Australia’s asylum seeker treatment got a hint of a silver lining this morning when the above post from my nephew, Mark, lit up my screen. It showed what is still possible when we operate on the principles of hospitality, generosity and care rather than fear and hostility. It reminded me of the earlier Community Refugee Resettlement programs that took place right in our midst.

Mark’s post was also a reminder of current conversations around “receptive ecumenism” which looks to gain wisdom and understanding from careful listening to the other rather than being burdened with what we can impart, and the new ecumenical challenge which is no longer cross-denominational but cross-cultural.

I’ve just been listening to politicians conscientiously “questioning” the rationale for flying bereaved asylum seeker detainees the long distance from Christmas Island to relatives’ funerals in Sydney. These are the victims of the shipwreck off Christmas Island late last year. “Why not lay them to rest on Christmas Island?” they opine. Forget the fact that there is already extended family in Sydney where the traumatised refugees hope to relocate and would surmisably gain some degree of comfort that their loved ones were laid to rest nearby. What’s the cost of a plane fare compared to the extraordinarily extravagant cost of off-shore detention?
I want to know why both Government and Opposition persist in singing the praises of off-shore detention when mainland community based assessment and resettlement was healthier, more integrative and humane for so many years.

It’s only a few weeks since a maritime refugee disaster occurred off our coast. While the aftermath has largely slipped off the radar of mainstream awareness – the question of developing humane asylum seeker policy remains untouched.

Jack Smit of SafeCom is one of the most relentless and compassionate commentator/lobbyists I have come across for monitoring and challenging the political discourse.